In the field of television broadcasting, video packages containing one or more VCs are typically created by a third party (e.g., a show syndicator) and then delivered to a broadcaster for commercial broadcast. A common video package is one that is associated with an episode of a show series, where the episode is intended to be aired during a thirty-minute time-slot. Such a video package may include multiple VCs, including for example (i) multiple show-segment VCs, each of which consists of a different portion of the episode and potentially one or more commercials, and (ii) multiple promotion VCs, each of which consist of a promotion for the episode.
Generally, VCs in a video package are arranged in the order in which they are intended for broadcast, and they may or may not be separated by other video (e.g., black frames). Therefore, a user (usually associated with the broadcasting company) is tasked with the project of “tagging” the VCs in the video package, which involves the user visually analyzing the video package and identifying one or more VCs contained therein. Identifying a VC in this manner involves the user identifying both a position of the VC (e.g., with starting and ending frame indicators) and a type of the VC (e.g., a show-segment VC). The user may then store or otherwise associate the identifying information with the corresponding video package. Among other things, tagging a VC in this manner facilitates the scheduling and broadcasting of the VC at the appropriate time (e.g., via a scheduling-and-sequencing system and a playout system in a broadcasting environment).
In some instances, VCs in the video package may be positioned out of the intended broadcast order. For example, a promotion VC in a video package is often positioned after a show-segment VC in the video package, even though the promotion VC is intended to be broadcast first (i.e., to advertise for the show). As such, by tagging the promotion VC, it may be scheduled and broadcast at the appropriate time.
In television-broadcasting environments, a show syndicator often provides information about a video package, such as approximate starting and ending durations of VCs in the video package. Traditionally, video packages were stored on analog storage mediums (e.g., tapes) that lacked random access (i.e., direct access to a particular location), and therefore information like the approximate starting position of a VC allowed a user to fast-forward the tape to the identified approximate position to aid in the tagging process. Despite the recent movement towards random-access storage-mediums (including, for example, hard-disk drives), for a variety of reasons, show syndicators continue to provide such information with video packages. This provided information is often referred to in the industry as daily timing-sheet data (DTD).
While DTD may be available to the broadcaster, select portions of the DTD, particularly the starting and ending positions of the VCs, are often not exact, and therefore, a user is still needed to perform the tagging process. In addition to accuracy concerns, DTD is typically not presented in a manner that allows for efficient processing and use in the tagging process. For example, it is often contained in a handwritten document that is faxed to the broadcaster along with the video package. Further, even when the DTD is presented in electronic form (e.g., as a typed document), show syndicators do not share a common protocol, but instead each present the DTD in their own format making efficient use of it difficult. For at least the reasons stated above, the traditional tagging process requires a considerable amount of time and resources. Indeed, tagging all of the VCs in a typical video package associated with a show intended for a thirty-minute time-slot, typically takes between ten to fifteen minutes. Given the large number of television shows that are broadcast on a regular basis across multiple networks, a substantial amount of time and resources are devoted to this tagging process.
The traditional tagging process also commonly results in an undesired amount of black frames being broadcast. During the tagging process, a user typically selects a position (e.g., with a mouse click via a graphical user-interface (GUI)) within the video package to designate a starting or ending position of a VC. However, in many instances, the user's selected frame is one or more frames displaced from the actual starting or ending frame of the VC. This often results in undesired black frames being added to the beginning or end of the VC when it is broadcast. Broadcasting these undesired black frames may diminish the experience of the viewer and/or may reduce the amount of time in which a broadcasting company may broadcast VCs.